OM NAMAH SHIVAY

SECRETARY’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2007 – 08

It is my pleasure to welcome you once again to the Annual Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Samaj being held at Anandpuri Ashram, Chillianaula during the Autumn Navaratris. With Shree Babaji’s blessings and continued guidance of our Chairman Shree Munirajji another Samaj year concludes in peace and harmony.

I would like to share with you the main events of the past year as follows.

Autumn Navaratri was celebrated from 12^th to 21^st October, 2007 in Chillianaula

to invoke the blessings of Mother Durga in all her nine forms. Preparations for the festival had started much ahead with buildings being painted and the annual cleaning up operations. The Ashram and accommodation available nearby were full to capacity with over three hundred and fifty devotees from abroad and a large number from India participating in the function. The daily rituals started from early morning with Paduka puja and chandan in Baba’s kutia, small havan in Munirajji’s dhuni, aarti at 7am, Baba’s paduka puja, Mother’s puja, reading of the Saptasati followed by the main Havan. Bhandara was a big event everyday hosted by the devotees of different countries or individuals. The evenings started with reading of the Devi Bhagwatam by Shastriji followed by evening aarti and bhajans.

The big event of the Navaratis this year was the installation and ‘praan pratistha’ puja of Shree Hanumanji in front of the temple. The beautiful murti was sculptured by our old time devotee from Italy Francisco Russo and his team of painters.

Another achievement of the Navaratri was the garbage disposal system put in by Chamkua Singh (Germany) by his untiring efforts almost single handed. Our grateful thanks go to you, Chamkua.

Our special thanks go out among others to Pratibha, Neelam, Indra and Laxmi for all the hard work in managing the room requirements, office, temple decoration etc.Harish and members of our staff also deserve our thanks for their hard work.

The Annual Meeting of the Executive Committee and the Annual General Body Meeting of the Samaj were held in Chillianaula on October 15^th and October18th respectively, the proceedings of which have been reported separately.

Shree Babaji’s Paduka Pujan was performed on December 6th, 7th & 8th in the house of Commodore Prem Chand in Delhi under the guidance of Shree Munirajji. A large number of devotees from abroad and India attended the function which was performed with full rituals and sumptuous bhadaras. We are grateful to Prem Bhai, Kirtiji and their daughter Shristi for their kind hospitality and personal care.

Inauguration of Babaji temple in Rajasthan took place on 12^th December’ 08 at the ancestral village of Late Amar Singh Yadav (Chacha).A beautiful temple dedicated to Shree Babaji was inaugurated at a grand function guided by Munirajji and the presence of Minister Of Railways Shree Lalu Prasad Yadav and a big crowd. Our thanks go to the Yadav family for their dedicated service to Babaji.

Christmas was celebrated in Haidakhan on 24th &25th December as usual. Shree Munirajji was present to lead the functions. On Christmas Eve the programme began with the children from Chillianaula singing some traditional pahari songs and also Christmas carols followed by the Haidakhandi Play and 1ooo Prasad bags were distributed to the children. On the 25th after the Havan on the Gufa side a big Bhandara was served to about 3000 people, which went well into the late afternoon. Our thanks go to among others to Mary, Kerry, Kashyap, Mansingh and all the members of the staff for managing this big function

New Samaj Office in Haldwani was inaugurated on 20th January ’08 by Shree Munirajji. The long awaited spacious office of the Samaj is now fully in operation in Haldwani with proper space for our Chairman and office staff and internet, fax  and telephone facilities and proper wash room . We have now streamlined the incoming foreign donations which can be directly transferred to our bank account in Haldwani much faster.

Mahashivratri was celebrated as usual at our Manda ashram from 6th to 8^th March ‘o8. Shree Munirajji, due to his weak health, flew to Mumbai from Delhi on the 4th March and Shree Babaji’s Padukas left by train accompanied by Shree Man Singh, Laxmiji and a large number of devotees. On Mahashivratri day (6th March) the rituals started with Munirajji giving Chandan in Baba’s kutir followed by Aarti, reading of the Saptasati and Havan. Thereafter Padukas visited the home of Smt. Manju Behan for puja and bhandara.In the evening after the temple Aarti, a special Paduka puja was performed with a lamp stand having 108 lights. The main Shivratri puja was performed whole through the night with Abhishek to the Lingam and Rudri path. Shree Padukas departed from Manda on 8^th morning to visit the home of Late Raman Bhai where puja and small Havan were performed followed by a sumptuous bhandara. Our grateful thanks go to Shree Yogendra Bhai and Pallu Behan for a grand function and warm hospitality.

Chaitra (Spring) Navaratri  was celebrated in Haidakhan from 6^th to 14^th April 2008. The Ashram was full to its capacity with 350 devotees representing 23 countries and about 250 devotees from India. The countries represented included Russia, Germany, Italy, USA, Australia, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Croatia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovenia, Polland, Holland, Greece, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Argentine and Chile.

Chandan started from 5:00 am by Shri Munirajji and was continued thereafter by Pujari from Holland. Thereafter the usual rituals followed with Arti, Paduka puja, Devi puja, Saptasati path. Thereafter Babaji’s paduka’s were taken to the Gufa side for puja in all the nine temples and havan. Thereafter sumptuous bhandara hosted by different countries was served on the newly tiled garden area. In the evening Shastri ji recited from the Devi Bhagwat followed by evening arti and bhajans. It was a great function to invoke the blessings of the Mother.

Guru Purnima was celebrated in Chillianaula on 18^th July  with the presence of Shri Munirajji and attended by a large number of devotees. After the morning chandan and arti, Abhishek was performed to the Shiva Lingam and to the murti of Shri Babaji. Thereafter Munirajji performed Paduka pujan to Babaji in which all took part and finally puja was offered to Shri Munirajji by his devotees who await for this opportunity to be blessed on this special day.

This year the German devotees organized a grand four day festival at the Reiferath Ashram in Germany to celebrate Guru Purnima. About 250 devotees coming from all parts of Europe and as far as from USA and India participated in the grand function.  Our thanks go to __________ President of the German Samaj and his team of devoted workers for a well organized function. A small function to celebrate Guru Purnima was also organized at Lan Carona Ashram, Polland on 20^th and 21^st July 2008. The small group of devotees who attended the function were well looked after by Parmanand and his wife Radha, our thanks to them.

Parthiv puja as usual was organized during the month of Shravan in our Haidakhan Ashram and also in Chillianaula from 12^th to 16^th August.  Lingam puja was offered to about 25,000 lingams each day and on the final day the figure of 1,25,000  was achieved.

Reports of the activities of Shree Haidakhan Charitable Hospital and Bhole Baba Ayurvedic Hospital are being placed separately.

Before concluding I offer my thanks to our Chairman Shree Munirajji for his valuable guidance and to the members for their support and cooperation and also to the members of the staff of our Hospitals and Ashrams for their valuable service in making this a successful Samaj year.

Bhole Baba ki Jai

Alok Banerjee